You don’t have to be a numerologist to figure out why singer Assaf Amdursky is releasing his new album, 432, in partnership with Factory 54, on Monday, August 30 – but it helps. The individual numbers in 432 add up to nine and so does 54.
Nine is a number that has significance in several religious and universal traditions, including Judaism. The miracle month of Kislev is referred to in the Bible as the ninth month after Nissan, the month of Passover and spring. Nissan is one of four Jewish new years. The first rainbow after the Biblical flood was seen in Kislev, and is regarded as an eternal covenant between the Divine Creator, the Earth and humanity. Kislev is the month of Hanukkah in which Jews commemorate the miracle of the tiny amount of oil in the Temple that lasted for eight days instead of only one. The Hanukkah menorah which symbolizes that miracle, has nine branches – eight for each of the days on which the oil lasted, plus one from which each of the Hanukkah lights is kindled. Bearing in mind that every letter in the Hebrew alphabet has some kind of mystic meaning, Twice nine is 18, which alphabetically is written as Hai, meaning life.
For Buddhists, nine is an important number because Buddha is believed to have had nine virtues.
Christians cite nine Biblical “fruits of the spirit” – namely love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control – that are said to be the result of the influence of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believing Christian. Moreover, in the New Testament, according to Matthew 27:46 Jesus died at the ninth hour. The verse states “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” Which translates as “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
In Hinduism, nine is the number of Brahma, the creator, and for Muslims, Ramadan, a month of fasting, prayer, introspection and community, falls in the ninth month of the Islamic calendar.
The Baha’i writings state that the number nine is “the number of perfection and the highest digit, symbolizing comprehensiveness, and culminations.”
This is reflected in one of the key symbols of the Baha’i faith in which the nine-pointed star represents the unity, truth, and oneness of all religions. Nine is further emphasized in Baha’i temples around the world which all have nine sides to them.
Then of course there’s the universal evidence of nine, regardless of race or creed, in which the full process of birth takes nine months.
Among the well-known figures from the entertainment industry who have indicated that they will be celebrating with Amdursky, are Shlomi Shaban, Rona Kenan, Eric Berman, Hadar Ashton, Marina Maximilian, Yermi Kaplan, Shuli Rand, Tzofit Grant, Moshiko Gamliel, Peter Roth, Doron Tsabari, Yael Abecassis, Ran Danker, Rivka Michaeli, Netta Barzliai and many others.
Amdursky will give a live performance of some of the songs on the album. Proceeds from sales at the launch will be given to charity.
■ ON THE same date, and at the same time, at the opposite end of Tel Aviv, singer Rita, at the invitation of Chemi Peres, chairman of the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, will read excerpts from her book Raindrops on the Chador against a backdrop of Persian music performed by the Sasson band. The event has been organized by Yona Bartal, founder and head of the Friends of the Peres Center. Rita first met Shimon Peres when she was going steady with her now ex-husband Rami Kleinstein whose parents lived in the same apartment building in Oppenheim Street, Tel Aviv. She would occasionally meet Peres in the elevator, and he was unfailingly polite. In later years, he sometimes attended events in which was the star performer, and when he was president, he invited her to sing at state dinners and luncheons as well as other events in the President’s Residence.
Over the past decade, Rita has returned to her Persian roots, singing in the language of her childhood in Tehran. Politics aside, she has a huge following in Iran.
■ REGARDLESS OF what may be the final decision of the coronavirus cabinet regarding Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services, there will be congregations that hold services outdoors as was the case last year when most synagogues were closed. The Tishrei holiday period is the money-making season for most congregations when membership is renewed or when seats for High Holy Day services are sold. Some people are willing to pay a small fortune for the privilege of having a seat that is definitely reserved for them, though it does occasionally lead to unpleasantness when someone who hasn’t paid for a seat takes one that has been paid for and is reluctant to move when the person entitled to sit there shows up. That does not happen in the congregation of Rabbi Yisroel Goldberg, the director of Jerusalem’s Chabad of Rehavia, who realizes that not everyone can afford to pay for a seat – certainly not some of the large Chabad families. But not everyone who joins his congregation is a Chabadnik. They just react to the sign that he puts up annually: “We saved a place for you.” Last year his outdoor services spilled out so far into the street that some of the chairs were actually placed in the road. Passersby on their way to or from other congregations simply joined in because Goldberg’s service was so friendly and welcoming.
■ IT STANDS to reason that where there are two Jews, there are three opinions. Former directors-general of the Health Ministry are divided in their opinions, as are the National Coronavirus Project Coordinators, the first of whom was Prof. Ronni Gamzu, the CEO of Sourasky Medical Center, who is also a former Health Ministry director general. In an interview last week with Israel Hayom, Gamzu, who in the past has lashed out against the politicization of the pandemic, declared his opposition to a future lockdown, saying that the coronavirus is not going away any time soon and the public has to learn how to live with it. But perhaps more important psychologically, Gamzu deplores the daily publication of the latest coronavirus statistics, the absolute accuracy of which he doubts. Let’s be honest, it would be so nice to go through the day without hearing a single mention of coronavirus or to read about it in the newspapers. The status quo is depressing and ineffective unless one actually has a relative, knows someone who has been infected by the virus, and who is either very ill or has died. That gives antivaxxers a wake-up jolt. The recent surge of queues of people lining up for booster shots, may have less to do with concern for their health and that of their families, than the realization that they will not have access to many places without proof of vaccination. That threat seems to have been more effective than anything else. After more than a year and a half, statistics could be limited to weekend round-ups of news.
■ LAST WEEK, after 15 years in prison, Roman Zadorov was released on house arrest while awaiting a retrial for the murder in 2006 of schoolgirl Ta’ir Rada. The victim’s mother, Ilana Rada, stated time and again that she did not believe that Zadorov was guilty. This opinion was also shared by forensic experts, but Zadorov was nonetheless sentenced to life imprisonment. Meanwhile, internationally acclaimed Israeli actress, model and television hostess Moran Atias has become very friendly with Ilana Rada. The two developed such a close relationship that they are almost like mother and daughter. Atias wants to do a documentary series, financed by her own production company, about what Ilana Rada has endured since her daughter’s death, and the subsequent death of her husband. This will not be the first series based on the multiple tragedies resulting from the brutal murder of the teenage Ta’ir. Shadow of Truth, a four-part series that has been streamed by Netflix, deals with the controversy surrounding Zadorov’s conviction. In the event that he may be acquitted the next time around, there will undoubtedly be at least one more documentary series to illustrate what happens to innocent people who are wrongly convicted. Victims of such injustice are sitting behind bars all over the world, partially because hypnosis and truth drugs are inadmissible evidence. However, if laws were to change, and such people agreed to take truth drugs and were questioned in front of a panel of judges, many more innocent people would go free. If Zadorov is found innocent, in what way will he be compensated for the 15 lost years of his life?
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